The Munich-based travel tech startup Fineway was founded in 2015 by Markus Bohl and Markus Feigelbinder. The platform allows users to book complex tours fully automatically using a short, digital conversation. Fineway describes itself as one of the first Company worldwide that develops artificial intelligence (AI) for individual travel planning and uses it to create personalized trips in real time. Fineway now employs over 70 people. According to the startup, it has been funded with around 20 million euros. The majority of venture capital comes from investors such as Bayern Kapital, Axel Springer and Mairdumont Ventures, as well as several family offices. We spoke to co-founder and COO about the challenges the two serial entrepreneurs had to overcome and where the travel startup is headed. Markus Feigelbinder spoken.
Markus, how did your business idea come about and how did you come together as founders?
The initial idea for Fineway arose from a very personal circumstance. Almost always when I go on vacation, there's a discussion about who should take on the travel planning this time. This is mainly due to a lack of time to deal with it alongside work. I've known Markus Bohl, my co-founder and CEO of Fineway, since my time as a consultant. He also had this problem, and so the idea of founding a company together to find a solution quickly arose.
You've already successfully founded a company before. What advantage did that give you?
Above all, through our previous startups, we both already had a solid network of investors, advisors, and supporters. This certainly made the launch a little easier. We were also familiar with the initial steps and processes. This speeds things up and helps immensely.
Experience and creativity helped Fineway overcome challenges
Is there anything that you would have preferred to have known before starting the company?
We were very well prepared thanks to our previous companies, which enabled us to meet some challenges with the necessary experience and creativity.
What were the biggest challenges for you during the founding process?
The biggest challenges arose from the fact that we were developing a service that customers weren't yet familiar with in this form. This meant that, on the one hand, we had no role models to guide us in the technical development of our travel planning service. Along with the fact that customers weren't yet familiar with such a service, it was also challenging to establish it on the market and get customers excited about it. Looking back, however, we can say that we mastered these challenges very well.
Tip for other founders: “Be quick and flexible”
And what were the most important milestones?
A key milestone was the launch of our R&D department. Since then, we've been able to focus even more intensively on the further development of our service, the heart of Fineway. Another particularly important milestone was the day we registered the first 1,000 users for our travel planning service. This shows us how well the service is being received and further reinforces our vision. However, important milestones occur continuously as we continually expand the service—be it with additional travel destinations or with improved AI.
What advice do you give to other founders?
First and foremost, be quick and flexible. Quickly figure out what your customers want and iterate quickly. Only then can your startup idea evolve without hitting a dead end.
Added value for customers: Key argument for investors
What do you consider to be the key factor for sustainable corporate development?
In my opinion, there are two essential points here. First, it's important to develop a product that resonates with the customer and offers them real added value. Second, it's necessary to find investors who are 100 percent behind the founders or the startup idea. Here, too, added value for the customer plays an important role. It's one of the key reasons why investors provide their capital to young companies.
Where do you see yourself in five years? Where is your own journey taking you?
In five years, we'll be at the point where instant trip planning, as we offer it, will be standard, and a completely new market will have emerged. Lengthy search and comparison processes for booking a completely customized trip will be used by only a few people and unthinkable for many.
In five years, we want to have further expanded our technological lead and our data science platform. With the rise of voice assistants, we are also convinced that we will plan and book trips via smart conversations in the future.
